China is launching its first lunar probe in early December , state-run Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday , just over a decade after the country first sent an astronaut into space .

The Chang ` e-3 probe -- which will blast off from a Long March 3B rocket in Sichuan province located in southwest China -- is expected to land on the moon 's surface in mid-December , a spokesman for the China 's State Administration of Science , Technology and Industry for National Defence told Xinhua .

The unmanned mission marks China 's first attempt at a soft-landing on the lunar surface and the first soft-landing on the moon since the Soviet Luna 24 probe in 1976 .

China sets course for lunar landing this year

On landing , the spacecraft will release Jade Rabbit -LRB- called Yutu in Chinese -RRB- -- a six-wheeled lunar rover equipped with four cameras and two mechanical legs that can dig up soil samples , a designer for the rover told Xinhua earlier this month . A public poll determined the the solar-powered robot 's name , which comes from the white pet rabbit of the Chinese moon godess Chang ` e . The slow-moving rover will patrol the moon 's surface for at least three months , according to Xinhua .

Timeline : China 's race into space

China is yet to announce the probe 's preferred landing site , but researchers say an impact crater named Sinus Iridum , or Bay of Rainbows , is its likely destination . In 2010 , China 's previous lunar mission captured images of the crater while scouting potential landing sites for the 2013 probe .

In the United States , scientists are concerned the Chinese mission could interfere with a NASA study of the moon 's dust environment . Chang ` e-3 's descent is likely to create a noticeable plume on the moon 's surface that could skew the results of research already being carried out by NASA 's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer -LRB- LADEE -RRB- , Jeff Plescia , chair of NASA 's Lunar Exploration Analysis Group told Space.com , a space news site .

The mission constitutes the second phase of China 's moon exploration program which includes orbiting , landing and returning to Earth . Earlier missions included plotting a high-resolution , full-coverage lunar map .

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China will launch an unmanned lunar probe in December

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Chang ` e-3 will release a solar-powered rover on the moon 's surface

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The probe may interfere with a NASA lunar dust study , U.S. scientist says